Today’s challenge: write a piece of flash fiction that begins with a visitor at the door. A guest. Or a villain. Or something altogether stranger. Any genre will do. But someone is at the door.
Who? Why? For what purpose?
Length: 1000 words-ish
Due by: Friday, June 17th, noon EST.
Post at your online space, drop a comment here.
Knock, knock. Who’s there?
107 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Knock Knock, Who’s There?”
Okay. I’m absolutely unashamedly unabashedly cheating.
I wrote this just before Halloween last year. And it’s non-fiction. But it’s about the ghost who knocked on my door when I was twelve. So I truly hope you don’t mind if I share it here, Chuck.
Here it is:
I’m Not Afraid Of Kevin Reese (The Ghost At My Door)
http://autismanswersbytsara.blogspot.com/2015/10/autism-answer-im-not-afraid-of-kevin.html
Tsara, I loved your story. 🙂 I’m with you on the cheating part 😉
Wonderful story, I like the kind of moment by moment play by play. It works really well.
Thank you, Fatma! It was fun to write and remember.
Hugs!
This was not only beautifully written, but just a wonderful story as well.
Oh, thank you! I’m honored that you enjoyed it!!
I really enjoyed this story. I had a dream about a close friend of mine after he took his life when I was 15. i do think spirits come back to tell us they are okay. Wonderful use of the prompt.
Thank you! I have always been a hard to describe mix of someone who believes in such things and someone who is strangely uninterested. However, I do have an annual conversation with my dad who passed away several years ago. The rule is this: I can tell him anything but I’m not allowed to ask him about himself. I’ve never questioned it, I just enjoy it!
Hugs!
[…] As promised, it’s time for a little sunshine to enter into Steven’s life. I had a lot of great feedback for chapter thirteen, and I’ve integrated all your suggestions. As usual, prompts from Inspiration Monday, Three Word Wednesday, The Writing Reader & Terribleminds. […]
This prompt was perfect for continuing Mental State: http://wp.me/s4le2s-sunshine
Possibly my favorite installment of Mental State so far. Steven is more intriguing every week!
Thanks, Christopher! I hope you keep reading.
I’m glad you introduced Ruby! Great installment. I can’t wait to keep reading.
Lauren, the next chapter is up.
I enjoyed this- looks like I need to be reading back some to catch up
Thanks! This week’s chapter is already up. I hope you do catch up.
“Becoming Utopia”
https://atcrump.com/2016/06/10/becoming-utopia-chapter-3-3-bloodline/
-Thanks Chuck.
This snippet makes me curious about the rest of work. Cool, thanks for sharing.
I am trying to get Poe and his raven out of my head. . .
You and I think alike! 😀
I’m in the same boat as Tsara Shelton and I deeply apologize. But, I want to share with you a story I wrote that fits this challenge quite nicely. It’s a little over the top and I want to know what you guys think.
The Unedited Interview with Pornstar, Brenford Stevens. And, no, lol, I don’t go there. See for yourself 🙂
http://www.authoryellehughes.com/?p=6510
Ooooooh, Boy!!!!!! 😛
She’s so fired, right? 🙂
That was fun!! It reminds me of this dream I had…. tee hee!
🙂
Whew! I need to cool down now. Great job!
I LOVED this!
Mine is Blog Heaven. I totally wrote off the fly, very fast, so there ya go. Five hundred words for a knock on the door. Thanks for prompting. I tied in my draft I’m querying. Yup. Here’s the link: https://theivorytide.com/2016/06/10/blog-heaven/
Haven’t done these in a while, but glad to throw something in. Went over some, but had fun!
https://jackleetaylor.com/2016/06/10/morton/
Wow. Just wow. Nice job.
Well done. I liked the twists and turns of it, and in such a short space. Bravo!
Well done! Great twist near the end.
Thanks!
Had me glued to my chair, hoping someone would save the poor guy. Guess not. This was awesome, thanks so much for sharing this. 🙂
I loved the twist in this. great job.
I’m also a bit of a cheater today, as I had started this micro piece before Christmas. But I finished it today, as it seemed to fit the challenge.
https://makesmesodigress.com/2016/06/10/they/
That was fun. Short and sweet, and yet tells the perfect little story. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks. Very short, but maybe with room to grow.
Good start. I think you could go SO many places with this!
I don’t need an actual knock right. Like …throwing something..or someone… into a door at a really high speed…that would work…right? Right.
I have to go throw something.
Two crashes into a door. http://insani-x.com/
I don’t follow directions well.
Prompts are meant to inspire, even if that inspiration takes you off the beaten path a bit. Glad you shared it regardless. Was a fun read.
https://caroljforrester.com/2016/06/10/the-girl-across-the-street/
Third attempt at a story for this prompt. This one I managed to finish.
Glad this one made it to the blog. I really enjoyed it.
Thank you.
Glad this made it as well. This was a joy to read.
I really enjoyed this story!
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/blind-target.html
Enjoy.
Thrilling and exciting! I loved this little snap shot into Lisa’s life. It almost felt like a true crime style story. The kind that needs a slick voice over guy to say, “Little did the they know that, like Justice, Lisa was also blind. And, like Justice, she always got her man.” Great stuff, Mozette. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. 😀 A few years ago, I lost my sight in my left eye for a few days (during a big seizure, I cut the inside of my eyelid and when it healed, it didn’t heal properly and pulled a piece of my cornea off, allowing in the sunlight and anything else into my eyeball – very painful). I was lucky to regain my sight; but it was scary to not be able to see over those few days. I drew from that experience and thought to use a police/guide dog to work it all in together… had fun writing this. 😀
[…] is Friday and that means another challenge from Chuck Wendig. This time it was a knock on the door. Never one to follow directions I went for a crash into a […]
Cheater cheater, pants on… wait, that doesn’t work. Anyway, here’s “Unwanted Guests” https://christopherslagle.wordpress.com/2016/06/11/flash-fiction-unwanted-guests
That rocked! Love it!
This was good. More the beginning of a story, maybe?
Thanks, Skye! It’s early in the story, but not the very beginning. If you’re interested, I plan to post more on my site; Part 1 is already up and can be linked to through the “Unwanted Guests” blog entry!
When I went to write this a character jumped out of my mind fully formed. A female Wizard who has been trying to get by in the modern world. Now, she needs modern help to catch a killer. And, bam story begins. I love when it all comes together.
http://www.fatmaalici.com/2016/06/11/flash-fiction-a-wizard-whose-stranger/
[…] Hey, if you like this story, or don’t, check out more flash here. […]
http://www.itsthesedammedkids.com/index.php/2016/06/12/the-lies-of-misanthropy/ Here’s what I’ve got
Someone’s knocking at the door. Somebody’s ringing a bell. What a simple premise and yet… great story fodder! Here’s my attempt:
https://wormholelesstraveled.wordpress.com/2016/06/12/kconk-kconk/
What a fun read! I know what you mean about simple premise. Tough to do, but nice work!
More summer than scifi, a cute story about a cookie dilemma. http://www.mdflyn.com/liars-truth-original-flash-fiction/
Thanks for giving me an opportunity to indulge a fantasy of smacking the crap out of technology. https://oddznsodz.blogspot.ca/
Really liked this one, the description of the near future was really vivid and detailed.
https://wordpress.com/post/lwall6710.wordpress.com/182 Always wanted to write a Horror Story.
Here is my first attempt to this prompt: https://theprose.com/post/71404/knock-knock
Nice! Funny with a hint of darkness. Loved the sales pitch back and forth, especially.
Thanks. It just popped in my head and I wanted to get it down before I lost some of the details. If I ever come back to it, I want to flesh out the purpose of the sidekick more (details in my head that never translated to the story), but it was a fun little diversion to write regardless.
[…] This week’s challenge over at Terrible Minds was another fairly simple one: Knock, knock, who’s there? […]
This one is a bit different from usual. No science fiction, no action, just… a couple sharing a dinner before one of them leaves for six months (with a nice little surprise at the end):
https://comradecharlie.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/the-first-goodbye/
Here’s my entry: http://runnerskye.ca/flash-fiction-challenge-death-comes-knocking/
So well written, I could feel Sabine’s resignation. Especially enjoyed the ending!
Thanks so much!
Loved this!! You’ve created some truly vivid characters in Wesley and Sabine.
Thanks! It’s tricky with such limited space. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I ended up a little over 1000 words. I hope you can forgive me.
https://modernauthors.org/2016/06/14/a-mistake-made-twice/
Delightfully bizarre!
I arrive quite late this week. A different approach at who’s at the door, inspired by an idea my son gave me: “Don’t Mess With Me”.
https://medium.com/@VicenteLRuiz/dont-mess-with-me-61a1d2b4fa6#.xugjlai3h
A little rough in places, but I like the story. And a crafty way to catch the killer.
Thanks. I didn’t want to be too obvious with the story and it turned out a bit sketchy, I’d say.
It is VERY short. I just didn’t feel that it needed to be any longer. So it’s on my ello, rather than my website.
https://ello.co/prosateuse/post/khdm6i-sshu66iorgwyg4q
Here you go, a bit different to what I usually write: http://davidralphlewis.co.uk/my-writing/a-knock-on-the-door/
I liked this one. Great descriptions.
Thanks very much!
Great job, I felt like I was in the middle of the maelstrom.
Cheers. Maelstrom is such an excellent word as well
Ok, so this is my last attempt at posting. Not sure why I haven’t been able to but if this doesn’t appear I’ll give up, promise.
A few words on the knock at the door. http://shyandretiring.weebly.com/someone-at-the-door.html. Apologies if this doesn’t appear as a proper link (still learning).
I like this one, and didn’t see the ending coming.
Love the writing, also didn’t expect the end! Glad to see you post some of your work, and I hope we get to read more soon!
Thank you for comments. A little confession (which I had tried to post before, honest), this piece was already written, so similar to a couple of posts here, so another cheater am afraid. It’s part of something bigger which I’m half way through.
Am a complete technophobe so have messed up previous posts but have tried to leave comments on the great stuff I’ve read here. Looking forward to reading more and being tested by the challenges.
Yep, continued the piece from last week (so this makes me three for three using the same characters).
https://mxgomez.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/the-serpents-map-part-2/
Great language, pace, characterization, finished with a smile on my face. Keep it up, Matt 🙂
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for the kick in the butt!
The Best Silver
https://rosswhippo.com/2016/06/15/a-flash-challenge/
I liked this one! And the line ““Well I’m a Scorpio so get us some straws.” made me laugh. 🙂
Nice! Reminded me a little bit of a Canadian flick called “Last Night” with Don McKellar and Sandra Oh.
Great job! Intriguing, humor, wonderfully three dimensional characters. I loved it.
I just had to include something about the Orlando shooting, because it’s touched me. I had actually written a completely different piece and started over.
Finished: https://laurengreenewrites.com/2016/06/16/finished/
[…] week’s Terribleminds Challenge had to start with someone at the door. I figure this works, even if she doesn’t go […]
Here’s mine. I hope it counts, even if the person at the door never goes inside!
Never Trust A Goblin – https://tonij.com/2016/06/16/never-trust-a-goblin/
There’s a Werewolf on my Doorstep – http://bek516.tumblr.com/post/146026289430/theres-a-werewolf-on-my-doorstep
Squeaking in under the wire, as usual.
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2016/06/friday-flash-fiction-knock-knock.html
Also as usual, I could have gone horror, but went humor instead.
More back story from my scifi series, but it stands on its own, I think…
http://jemimapett.com/blog/2016/06/17/fridayflash-fiction-the-inspector-calls/
I haven’t posted here in a while. I mostly write poetry but I’ve been working over old fiction and even writing new. Here goes:
Directions https://geletilari.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/directions/
[…] piece was to begin with someone (or something) knocking at the door. Thanks to @ChuckWending and TerribleMinds.com for the inspiration. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts in the […]
Knock. Knock.
http://www.bxbstudios.com/flash-fiction-knock-knock/
Thanks!
Whoa, I kept waiting for the happy twist. Horrifying, and tense up to the last
[…] To learn what this challenge is about and you’d like to participate, click here. […]